Never Alone
by Alakuriel
Summary: Rose lied to the Doctor at Bad Wolf Bay - it wasn't her mother who was pregnant, but her. This is the story of Athena Amalthea Tyler, the half-Gallifreyan child who changed the course of history and helped save the universe.
1. Chapter 01: Athena Amalthea Tyler

Disclaimer: I do not own _Doctor Who_ or any of its preexisting characters. I'm just playing with them.^^

xxx

**Never Alone, Chapter 01: Athena Amalthea Tyler**

"_Can't you come through properly?" Rose asked, her voice trembling as she desperately tried not to beg._

"_The whole thing would fracture," the Doctor explained sadly. "Two universes would collapse."_

"_So?" the young blonde responded, only half joking. She was afraid – she couldn't do this without him._

_But the Doctor just smiled, trying to be encouraging, even as she could see the sorrow in his eyes. They watched each other for a few moments, before he finally took a moment to look around at their surroundings._

"_Where are we?" he asked. "Where did the gap come out?"_

"_We're in Norway," Rose replied._

"_Norway. Right."_

"_About fifty miles out of Bergen," she continued, even though he obviously didn't expect her to. "It's called Darlig Ulv Stranden."_

_The Doctor looked surprised, and for a moment she thought he understood – but it turned out he had merely misheard her. "Dalek?"_

"_Darlig," Rose corrected. "It's Norwegian for 'bad'."_

_He was still just staring at her, brow furrowed – not understanding._

"_This translates as 'Bad Wolf Bay'," she finally explained, and they shared a brief laugh over the irony before quickly sobering. Her voice cracked over her next question. "How long have we got?"_

"_About two minutes..."_

_Silence reigned for a moment, and Rose almost laughed at the absurdity of the situation. "I can't think of what to say!" she admitted._

_The Doctor laughed too now, before glancing over to where Jackie, Pete, and Mickey were waiting by the jeep. "You've still got Mr. Mickey, then?"_

"_There's five of us now. Mum, dad, Mickey... and the baby."_

"_You're not...?" he asked, taken-aback – and she saw the sudden panic in his eyes. It wasn't supposed to be possible, but they had been lovers during their last few months together._

"_No," Rose laughed. "It's mum."_

A slightly older Rose woke to the now-familiar sound of a baby crying, her dream interrupted – though said interruption did nothing to ease the pain that memory still brought, or to stifle her own silent tears. Athena always woke her from that dream, though not always in the same place; she sometimes wondered if her daughter wasn't sharing her pain. The Doctor had said he was telepathic, after all, and their daughter never actually seemed to need anything after those particular wake-up calls. But whether her little Athena physically needed anything or not, Rose quickly donned her dressing gown and slippers and hurried next door; the least she could do was provide comfort.

Had she done the right thing? Rose couldn't help but wonder, as she cradled her daughter in her arms and did her best to sooth her. The Doctor had a right to know he was a father, after all, and she knew that he would be upset with her for keeping it from him if he ever found out. But she still couldn't forget what she had seen in his eyes, that horrible day on the beach, when she had come so close to telling him. She had seen the moment when he realized that he might be willing to risk two universes for the chance at having a family again, and as much as she had wanted him to come for her, she couldn't let him do that.

As per usual, her little Athena proved to need nothing more than her mother's comforting presence, and Rose was more than happy to oblige, taking a seat with her in the nearby rocking chair (apparently, even half-Gallifreyan babies enjoyed that simple rocking motion). The clever little girl knew exactly what she wanted too, and her cries did not truly cease until her mother began to sing for her – softly, so as not to wake the rest of the household (if they were not awake already). That was how Jackie found them a few minutes later, when she came to check in on them, and even she could not resist stopping to listen to the familiar song that was sadly absent in this world.

The Doctor had always loved some of the strangest movies (for an alien, anyway), but the one he and Rose had watched together the most often was _The Lion King_. Here in Pete's World, Disney movies were not meant for young children, often featuring gruesome and depressing themes; their version of _The Lion King_ didn't even exist, and it saddened Rose that she could not share it with their daughter – but she could share what songs she remembered from it, at least. The irony of which proved to be Athena's favorite did not escape her, either, and that was what she sang now – _He Lives in You_. But the truth of it was part of what helped get Rose through each day; the Doctor might not be here with them, but she did have a small piece of him in their daughter.

xxx

Athena Amalthea Tyler did not grow and develop at the same rate as a human child; something Rose had feared, but come to expect after a twelve month pregnancy. Her growth rate proved to be slower than a human's (not surprising, given her likely extended life-span), and yet she had been born with a full head of rich brown hair and chocolate brown eyes, both clearly coming from her father. She never crawled at all, and her first steps were taken with confidence – but not until she was already a year old. When she finally began to speak just before her second birthday, it was in full, grammatically correct sentences, yet she had been telepathically communicating her needs to her mother since she was eight months old.

When she was two years old, she felt the turn of the earth beneath her feet for the first time. Rose never felt more out of her depth than when she was trying to comfort her frightened child about something she herself could never experience.

By the time Athena had turned three years old, she was already reading without assistance, and beginning to play with numbers in her head. A few months after her third birthday, she got into her mother's physics textbooks (Rose was in her last year of university) and began correcting the poor woman's homework assignments. As soon as she turned four, her Grandpa Pete arranged for her to begin homeschooling with a private tutor, who quickly declared her a genius; at the same time, her Grandmum Jackie signed her up for ballet and tap lessons, where she quickly advanced to a class with girls twice her age.

Yet through it all, the little girl continued to love her mother's singing. She couldn't fall asleep without her mum reading to her or telling her a story (usually about her father) first, and she loved to help her grandmum bake cookies while her mum was at work. More than just about anything else in the world, she loved swings and playing dress-up, and she never left the house without her plastic unicorn named Amalthea, and her china doll named Marie.

Athena also took great interest in her mother's work at Torchwood, and was often able to convince Uncle Mickey (through the clever combination of adorable innocence and pouting, and threats to disassemble his new car in order to figure out how it worked) to let her into the R&D Department where Rose's main project was located – the dimension cannon.

Of course, when you're a four year old genius, it isn't a difficult thing to figure out.


	2. Chapter 02: Mother and Daughter

Disclaimer: I do not own _Doctor Who_ or any of its preexisting characters. I'm just playing with them.^^

xxx

**Never Alone, Chapter 02: Mother and Daughter**

"Mum, can we go home now?" a little Athena asked anxiously, tugging on Rose's jacket sleeve to get her attention.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" Rose asked, setting aside her book in order to grant her daughter her full attention. It was her day off, and she'd decided to try taking the child to the park, to give her a chance to actually play with some other children her age; they hadn't even been there for an hour yet. "Aren't you having fun?"

The little girl shook her head, glossy brown hair flying about her face as if to accentuate the gesture. A stranger would have said she looked stubborn, obstinate... but her mother could see the sadness in her eyes; she'd often seen a similar sadness hidden in the Doctor's eyes, after all.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked her again, instinctively lifting her daughter up into her lap to provide comfort.

"They don't like me," Athena admitted sadly, referring (of course) to the other children. She'd managed to play with them for a total of fifteen minutes and 23 seconds, before they'd seemed to realize that she was different. Then they'd become mean.

Rose looked rather sad now, too; she'd been afraid of this. As much as she wanted her daughter to have some friends outside her own family – friends her own age – Athena had difficulty fitting in with other children. She'd hoped today might go better.

"Well, that's their loss then, isn't it," she assured her daughter, giving her a little poke on the nose and earning a small smile (though it didn't reach the little girl's chocolate brown eyes). "What would you say to some tea and cake down at Rosemary's, then?"

"Oh, yes please!" Athena agreed, already cheering up a little – she loved Rosemary's. They always gave her an extra big slice of cake when they went in.

Smiling at her daughter's improved mood, Rose gave her a quick hug before setting her back down onto her own two feet and abandoning the bench she'd claimed for herself earlier; then she quickly took the young girl's hand in her own, and the two began to make their way out of the park together. "Perhaps we'll even do a bit of shopping later," Rose suggested, determined to see a further improvement. "Would you like that?"

Athena's whole face seemed to light up with her smile this time; she loved shopping with her mother. "Yes please!"

"Where would you like to go shopping first, then?" Rose asked; they were out of the park now, and turning left down the street. Rosemary's was on the corner, just a block away.

"Could we go look at the dolls?" the little girl asked, wide-eyed with excitement.

"Absolutely," Rose agreed with an encouraging nod of her head, looking down at her darling daughter. Athena loved to look at the china dolls sold at the Doll Emporium; her own precious china doll, Marie, whom she never left the house without, had come from there. "Perhaps we'll even buy you one."

Athena's eyes lit up with excitement at the prospect of the unexpected present, and Rose knew that the incident at the park was already forgotten – for now, anyway. Her daughter rarely ever seemed to forget things for good, but today she wanted to keep her happy.

"And can we have chips for dinner, after shopping?" the little girl asked, still practically bursting with excitement; in some ways, she was very much her mother's daughter.

"I think that sounds like an excellent plan," Rose agreed, with a twinkle in her eye. "Let's just not mention that part to Grandmum when we get home later, alright?" As much as Jackie tended to spoil Athena, she definitely wouldn't approve of chips for dinner.

"Okay!" Athena agreed happily, now beginning to pull her mother along a bit in her haste to get to Rosemary's. She wanted her strawberry tea (five sugars and no milk, thanks), and some cake – she was thinking chocolate cake today, but with vanilla icing, and maybe those edible ball bearings.

xxx

"You had another bad dream last night," Rose commented, only daring to broach the subject now that her daughter was about halfway through a plate of chips (with ketchup rather than vinegar, much to her mother's dismay).

But Athena merely nodded, not at all minding the topic as she polished off another of her chips. "I was somewhere strange – like ancient Rome or something," the little girl explained. "Only there was a volcano instead of the hills. Everyone had the most wonderful costumes, mum!"

"Well, maybe if you ask nicely, your Grandmum will make you one just like theirs," Rose suggested kindly, knowing how much Jackie loved to make the little girl new costumes for her games of dress-up. "But that sounds like a lovely dream so far – I'm a little jealous."

"There were monsters," Athena admitted. "Creatures of stone and flame, chasing me. And then it was like... like the whole world exploded."

"That does sound scary," her mother agreed – though she couldn't help thinking it also sounded an awful lot like one of the Doctor's adventures. And also possibly Pompeii, on volcano day. "Did you try imaging someone there to protect you, like I told you? You know I wouldn't let anything happen to you; and neither would your father, were he here. He fights all kinds of monsters, and he could certainly protect you from them in your dreams."

"I tried," the little girl told her. "But I couldn't... It was like I didn't have any control over it. I'll keep trying."

Athena didn't have to wait long for a chance to try again; curled up amidst her purple blankets, with Marie and her new doll, Anne, held tightly in her arms, and the unicorn Amalthea watching over them, she had another nightmare that very night.

She was on a planet of ice and snow, faced with the very darkest side of humanity; sometimes you didn't need monsters to make a dream frightening. But everything else seemed to just fade away after the singing started. It was the saddest thing she had ever heard – the sound of captivity, slavery, suffering – and it just about broke her heart; it was the sound of her own sobs that eventually woke her.

Rose held her and rocked her, murmuring words of comfort and singing softly to her for over two hours before Athena was finally able to stop crying – and even then, all the little girl could seem to say was how sad the song was, and how much pain a mysterious 'they' were in.


	3. Chapter 03: The Darkness

Disclaimer: I do not own _Doctor Who_ or any of its preexisting characters. I'm just playing with them.^^

xxx

**Never Alone, Chapter 03: The Darkness  
**

Athena was the first on Earth to notice.

It was Rose's birthday, and while the family's celebrations (including Mickey and Jake, both of whom were Athena's honorary uncles) had been rather quiet, they were now gathered together in the backyard for the fireworks show that Athena had demanded on her mother's behalf. The little girl's bedtime had even been extended for the night as a result, and she had been happily watching the bursts of colour in the night sky from her mother's lap, wearing her newest costume from Grandmum Jackie (Princess Irene, from the movie _The Princess and the Goblin_) when she saw it.

"Mum?" the little girl suddenly asked, shifting in Rose's arms so that she could tug on the woman's jacket sleeve to get her attention. She had interrupted her mother in the middle of a conversation with Uncle Mickey, but the alarm in Athena's voice was enough that no one even bothered to correct her manners. "Mum, the stars are going out!"

"What d'you mean, sweetheart?" Rose asked patiently, giving her daughter her full attention; when you had a daughter like Athena, you really couldn't afford to give her anything less.

"Six stars just went out!" the child exclaimed; she had everyone's full attention now. "Look – there go five more!"

All five adults quickly looked to the sky, where she was pointing – just in time to see a few more blink out of existence. Mickey had his phone out and was placing a call to Torchwood before Jackie could even turn to Pete for some sort of explanation as to how that was even possible.

"THE STARS ARE GOING OUT!" Athena could be heard screaming over everyone else's wonderings, now in a full-blown panic as she had to watch yet more of them disappear. Someone was messing with the timelines of hundreds of worlds – she could feel it! – and there was nothing she could do. So she responded as any almost-five year old must – she began to cry, and Rose desperately tried to comfort her.

"Rose." Mickey suddenly interrupted her attempts to calm her daughter, cell phone still held to his ear, with an intent look upon his face that could only mean one thing. "The dimension cannon's working."

"Reality is collapsing," the little Time Lady declared from her mother's arms, sounding as though she was in shock. "The walls between the universes are breaking down."

And with that statement, the dimension cannon ceased to be about simply getting back to the Doctor; it was now the only way Rose could save her daughter from the collapse of reality.

"We're going to Torchwood," Rose announced, quickly getting to her feet even as she continued to cling to the little girl in her arms. Predictably, Jackie opened her mouth to object, but Rose cut her off. "Mum, just this once, please do as I say!" Surprisingly, the older woman actually fell silent, and Rose was able to turn her attention to the others. "Mickey, you and Jake head over first, let them know we're coming – we'll be right behind you." With a quick nod, the two young men obediently took off for Mickey's car. "Dad?"

"Yes, sweetheart?" Pete asked, by now more than used to having a daughter – and one with a tendency to give orders during a crisis, at that.

"Take mum with you, and get the car – Athena and I will meet you out front," Rose instructed, and the moment her parents had turned to follow Mickey and Jake, she took off back to the house with Athena to grab a few of the little girl's things. No matter what happened when she found the Doctor, they were coming back for their daughter, after all, and there were some things the little girl would refuse to leave without.

xxx

Poor little Athena was not at all happy. While all the other grown-ups were busy playing around with the dimension cannon, she was stuck sitting around with her Grandmum Jackie – and their coordinates were wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, WRONG! And did they listen to her when she tried to tell them that? Of course not! So now they were all scrambling about, trying to figure out why her mum kept ending up stuck in video screens in the other universe, even though she'd already told them.

Honestly, sometimes she hated grown-ups. They thought they knew everything, but they could be so stupid! Ignoring her, just because she was little...

And now mum kept ending up in another alternate universe – a whole universe that had been created around one woman, named Donna (Athena liked that name, "Donna"). She didn't seem to mind it so much, though; said it was wrong, that she had to fix it, so they stopped trying to fix the coordinates for a while. But Rose sorted everything out (sometimes, Athena thought her mum could fix anything), and was finally there long enough to hear her daughter's objections to the coordinates for the dimension cannon, so Athena finally got her chance at the controls.

"There! Now it'll work right," the little girl announced with more than a little pride, stepping away from the controls 46 seconds later to go stand with her mother. The next words out of her mouth, however, were entirely serious. "I'm going with you."

"No, you most certainly are not," Rose informed her sternly. "It's too dangerous – you're too little."

"But-"

"No! You are going to stay here until I get back. Promise me!" the young mother demanded, unable to keep all the fear from her voice. There was no way of knowing what was waiting for her back in her old universe.

Athena didn't answer, fully displaying the stubbornness she'd inherited from both of her parents, but she did step back to let her mother go. This time, Rose took a weapon with her.

It was about an hour later that everyone decided to take a short break. Someone was sent out for take-away, some took a bathroom break, others headed to the kitchen for tea or coffee... and Athena was left alone with the dimension cannon.

Sometimes, Athena loved grown-ups. They never took her seriously, just because she was still a little girl – it never occurred to them that she shouldn't be left alone with that technology. But she was a Time Lady, and she wasn't about to sit back while the fate of reality itself was decided. She was going to help.

A few more tweaks to the coordinates, and she was gone.


	4. Chapter 04: Saving the Universe

Disclaimer: I do not own _Doctor Who_ or any of its preexisting characters. I'm just playing with them.^^

xxx

**Never Alone, Chapter 04: Saving the Universe**

Athena Amalthea Tyler was in a different universe.

To be more precise, she was in another universe's version of London, England, Earth (though not the Solar System at the moment) – in the doorway of some fancy-looking stone building that might have been a church. She'd timed it perfectly too, for two minutes and fifteen seconds later, the TARDIS was materializing in the street, right in front of her. And she could feel them in her head, the Doctor and the TARDIS - filling that awful empty space that had haunted her for so long.

It was a good thing so much was going on – if the Doctor noticed her presence in his mind, he might tell her mum, and then she'd be in trouble. But he and a woman Athena didn't know were coming out now, and then mum was appearing at the far end of the street, drawing their attention and presenting the little girl with the perfect opportunity to sneak aboard the TARDIS. She didn't have a key, mind you, but the TARDIS knew who she was, and let her in when she asked.

In fact, the marvellous ship even lead her to a safe room to hide in, once she was inside – the Zero Room, she called it, where the Doctor wouldn't even be able to pick up her mental presence. As she curled up in her safe little hiding place with one of the books she'd brought with her (backpacks were wonderful things, really, though she was rather glad to take hers off now – it didn't go with her Princess Irene costume) Athena decided that she definitely liked the TARDIS.

It wasn't long, however, before her nice little break was interrupted when the entire ship suddenly plummeted, the force of it sending the little girl flying across the room. And then the TARDIS was crying out for help – the Doctor was gone, and there was no one else to save her – and Athena was out of the Zero Room and running back to the Console Room with fires erupting all around her.

The first thing she saw when she got there – and for a moment, the only thing – was the woman from before, about to touch a hand in a jar, and a nightmare of changing timelines as a result.

"GET AWAY FROM THE HAND!" the little girl screamed at her with such force, Donna immediately leapt away from it as though she'd been stung. "WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T TOUCH IT! DON'T EVEN GET NEAR IT! Go stand by the wall, over there – I'll take care of this!"

And then Donna was moving to cling to a support strut near where she'd been directed, and Athena was flying about the controls like a madwoman – like her father, really – dematerializing them out of the core, and quenching the fires, as the TARDIS directed her.

"Who are you?" Donna demanded the moment they were out of danger, and Athena got the distinct impression that it had been censored for her benefit.

"My name is Athena Amalthea Tyler," the little girl told her. "I am almost five years old. My mother is Rose Marion Tyler, and my father is the Doctor, though he doesn't know it yet. I'm a Time Lady, and I'm going to save the universe." She was about to turn back to the TARDIS controls when she remembered her manners (sort of, anyway). "Who are you?"

"Donna," the woman replied, sounding as though she was in shock. "Donna Noble."

"Oh! You're the one mum met in the alternate universe before!" Athena happily exclaimed. "I like your name."

"Um... thanks." Donna was actually sounding a bit bewildered. "Shouldn't we be, I dunno, rescuing them?"

"We're going to! I just need to make something first," the little Time Lady assured her. "Come on, you can help me find the parts." The TARDIS had told her about the Daleks – and helped her come up with a way to beat them.

xxx

Back in the Crucible Vault, Davros was enjoying his moment of victory; his voice trembled with excitement as he declared, "The final prophecy is in place. The Doctor and his children all gathered as witnesses. Supreme Dalek... the time has-"

Someone giggled, and for a moment, everyone froze. The giggle repeated itself.

"Enemy of the Daleks detected," an electronic voice announced, as two of them moved to intercept the little person who seemed to have snuck in from the hallway when nobody was looking.

"The presence of two hearts suggests Time Lord origin," the second Dalek declared. "Exterminate!"

"NO!" Rose panicked, knowing in an instant who it was, and that she was powerless to save her. This response also helped to clue Jackie in as to what was happening, and the older woman could be seen grabbing hold of Mickey for support as the colour drained from her face.

But the death ray never sounded – there was only the sound of a little girl giggling in its place. All eyes (and eyestalks) turned to her hiding place, where they couldn't yet see her, but they could see the two Daleks, and they weren't moving. And then little Athena came dancing into view, the pink skirts of her Princess Irene costume swirling about her legs as she twirled, spinning a strange-looking baton above her head. Athena had always liked batons.

Had they been capable of it, the Daleks would have been insulted – the little girl was clearly having the time of her life.

"The Time Lord descendant will surrender," another of the Daleks demanded, approaching her.

"That's Time _Lady_, thanks," Athena corrected, pointing her baton at the Dalek with a flourish that almost seemed to be part of her dance and pushing a button. The tip lit up with a pink light, and it emitted a faint buzzing noise – and the Dalek stopped moving. As if to add insult to injury, the little girl also now appeared to be singing _A Spark Inside Us_, from the movie _The Princess and the Goblin _(it went with her costume).

The Doctor was looking terribly undignified, with his mouth hanging open as he stared at that impossible little girl in surprise – and he wasn't the only one. Even Davros appeared to be too shocked to act, which was unfortunate for him, as he was the next one to get buzzed; and it finally became clear just what she was doing. All of the machinery that he was connected to immediately stopped working, but the actual living organism (in this case, Davros) was left completely unharmed.

Leave it to the only child of the Doctor and Rose to come up with a way to stop the Daleks without killing them.

Now that the last enemy in the room had been taken care of, a grinning Athena gave her baton one last twirl, jabbed it into a perfectly fitted spot on the control panel at the centre of the room, and pressed the button. The Crucible transmitted the signal, and outside every last one of the Daleks came to an immediate stop. It was now time to take care of the Reality Bomb and the holding cells her parents were trapped in. Of course, this was rather difficult when you were too small to reach the necessary buttons, but that wasn't about to stop Athena – she simply set about climbing right up onto the control panel. And while she climbed, her muttered complaints finally broke the stunned silence that had reined from the moment she made her appearance.

"'It's too dangerous,' she says. 'You're too little,' she says. Like size has anything to do with it. I'm a Time Lady, and I can save the universe if I want to. Stupid grown-ups never think I can do anything... Ah-ha!" she exclaimed triumphantly, having finally managed to get up onto the control panel. One minute and seventeen second later, the Reality Bomb had been permanently disabled, her parents had been released from their holding cells, and Athena was gracefully hopping down off of the control panel looking entirely too pleased with herself.

Her admittedly impressive accomplishments were quickly forgotten, however, the moment her chocolate brown eyes met those of her father.

"How dare you!" Davros suddenly began to rage, trapped in place but still very much capable of speech, unlike his Dalek creations. His tirade didn't even have a chance to get started though, before Mickey conked him on the head, knocking him out and thus preventing him from further ruining the moment all the rest of them were content to watch in silence.

"Hello," the Doctor greeted with a genuine, if rather nervous, smile, crouching down before her to eliminate their difference in height.

"Hi," Athena replied, with a smile every bit as nervous as his. She fidgeted a little, but never once looked away from his eyes.

"What's your name?" he asked, his voice as gentle as anyone had ever heard it.

"Athena," the little one told him softly, before adding, "I can feel you in my head."

The Time Lord's smile widened considerably – he couldn't help it. "I can feel you, too," he assured her, giving his head a tap.

Athena's smile widened in return. "I like it," she told him.

"So do I," the Doctor told her.

The next thing anyone knew, Athena had thrown herself into her father's arms and was clinging to him as if she would never let go – and he was clinging right back. "Daddy..." the little girl whispered, her hearts so full of happiness she thought they might burst.

And Rose's heart nearly broke from happiness, of all things, when she heard the Doctor whisper back, "I'm here, Athena. I'm here, and you'll never be without me again."

Jackie was actually beginning to sniffle a little, and even Sarah Jane was fighting to keep back the tears in her eyes, when Donna suddenly appeared next to Jack and just about gave him a heart attack upon announcing, "You can hug me, if you want."

Jack took one look at the mischievous grin on Donna's face and promptly burst out laughing before finally giving the woman her hug.


	5. Chapter 05: Tea and Chips

Disclaimer: I do not own _Doctor Who_ or any of its preexisting characters. I'm just playing with them.^^

xxx

**Never Alone, Chapter 05: Tea and Chips  
**

"Can we have chips for dinner?" Athena inquired from her father's arms as everyone made their way back to the TARDIS, which she had parked in a nearby hallway. "I like mine with ketchup."

"Ketchup!" the Doctor exclaimed in surprise. "What about vinegar?"

"I don't like vinegar," the little girl informed him.

"Don't like vinegar! And you're sure Rose is your mum?" he teased, winking at the beloved blonde human walking beside him.

"Why didn't we hear the TARDIS earlier?" Jack wanted to know, while the Doctor fished the key out of his bigger-on-the-inside pockets.

"I turned off the hand-brakes," the little Time Lady replied, as if it should have been obvious. Seven humans immediately shot the Doctor a variety of teasing and questioning looks.

"Are you sure the Doctor's your father?" Jack asked her with a wide, teasing grin.

"Hey!" the Time Lord objected.

"I didn't even know it was possible to materialize without that grinding noise," Sarah Jane commented, and the rest of the Doctor's companions nodded in agreement.

"Well, I think it's a brilliant noise," the Doctor informed them, pouting – and thereby earning himself a giggle and a kiss on the nose from his daughter. _His daughter_ – now those were two words he could definitely get used to.

"I love it," Rose agreed, eternally sticking up for him and his marvellous time-ship.

"Thank you, Rose. Now then..." Pushing the doors open with a flourish, the Doctor took a step inside and looked down at his daughter expectantly. "Welcome to the TARDIS, Athena; welcome home."

But rather than his usual favorite response, the little girl instead wanted to know, "Do you have any strawberry tea?"

The Time Lord's face fell a little. "What, no 'it's bigger on the inside'?"

"We'll have to pick some up then," she informed him with an impish little grin. "I like mine with five sugars and no milk, thanks."

Jack and Mickey couldn't seem to stop laughing at the look of disappointment on the Doctor's face.

"Alright then," the Doctor agreed, deciding to ignore them as he set Athena down on the jump seat. "Our first stop will have to be for strawberry tea, then. And chips, of course."

"Chips with ketchup," she reminded him.

"Chips with ketchup," he agreed. "Although I suppose I should take care of the Daleks first, hmm?"

"I suppose," the little girl conceded.

"What _are_ we going to do with them?" Rose wanted to know, her fingers absently beginning to play with her daughter's glossy brown hair.

"I was thinking they could join their friends in the Void – what do you think?" the Time Lord suggested.

"I think that sounds perfect," she agreed.

"What's the Void?" Athena wanted to know.

"The dead space, between dimensions," the Doctor was quick to explain to her – it was one of the many, _many_ things he needed to teach her, after all. "Some people call it Hell."

"Oi, watch your language!" Jackie suddenly objected, more than a little loudly.

"I meant the place!" the Doctor quickly attempted to defend himself. "Isn't it alright when referring to the place? Not that Hell actually exists, mind you, but some people think it does. Honestly, the concept has been around since the dawn of time, and will probably survive until the end of it. I'll never understand the obsession, myself, but it can be a rather apt description for the Void, though it's a Hell of nothingness rather than fire and eternal suffering and all that, and-"

"I do love it when we send them to Hell," Mickey interrupted, well aware of the fact that the Doctor could prattle on all day if someone didn't stop him.

"You mean you've done it before?" Martha wanted to know.

"Of course!" Mickey assured her, before setting about filling her in on that particular adventure.

"Right, so... we'll take care of the Daleks, get everyone home, then go out for some strawberry tea and chips with ketchup – sound good?" the Doctor announced.

"What about the planets?" his daughter asked, with another impish grin; this time the tip of her tongue could be seen poking out of the corner of her mouth - she had her mother's smile.

"Oh, yes, right," he quickly agreed, looking a little flustered at having forgotten that little detail. "So, Daleks, planets, home, tea, and chips, right?"

"Right!" the little girl agreed enthusiastically.

xxx

The goodbyes were difficult, though Athena wasn't yet old enough to understand why her Grandmum Jackie was crying. The time had come to let Rose (and by extension, Athena) go, and the older woman was going back to Pete's World without them. Uncle Mickey, too, returned to the other universe with a few tears in his eyes – though not without first extracting a promise to make as much mischief as possible from his adopted niece. Sarah Jane, Martha, Donna, and Jack were all dropped off at their respective homes with promises that they would hear from the Doctor (and Rose) tomorrow.

And then the little family was off, not into time and space, but to buy Athena her strawberry tea, followed by chips (with ketchup) at a quaint little seaside chippy for dinner. Utterly exhausted after a night of saving reality (and never quite making it to bed), the little Time Lady fell asleep at the table.


End file.
